


i'm the lonelier version of you

by robin_writes



Category: Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Birthday, Cather - Freeform, Cutesy, Don't worry though, F/F, F/M, Fall Out Boy Lyrics, Femslash, Fluff, Levi's house, Love, Own Character, Presents, Red Velvet Cakes, baking at a party, check the chapter titles to find out who's pov, cuteness, from different povs, holly's in, ill sort it out, ill update the tags as i go, im hungry, jandro's out, nick apologised, peace out, sophomore year, strawberry and mint cake with tiramisu cream, watching jessica jones, wren is a closeted lesbian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-21 19:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7399891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robin_writes/pseuds/robin_writes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's sophomore year at the university, it's also Wren and Cath's birthday. Wren broke up with Jandro and has a 'professional' interest in one of the freshmen, Holly. Cath and Levi are very much in love. And Cath takes up a new class- literature which is harder than she anticipated. Much drama, lots of happenings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. oath of silence - cath

**Author's Note:**

> All of the chapter titles are part of Fall Out Boy lyrics, including the title. I'm trying this, uploading chapters instead of uploading it all at once, to see if it motivates me to finish something. If it doesn't, I'm gonna take this fic down, but hopefully it won't come down to that.

Cath looked out of her dad’s car window. The world flashed passed her. She remembered playing a game when she was a kid. She would sit really really still in the car, not even blinking, and pretend she was a statue. The longer she was a statue, the longer she could put off arriving at their destination. In this case, the destination was university, sophomore year. She sat unmoving in the back of the car, Wren and her dad were up front. Wren was talking their dad’s ears off about some party and their dad was politely listening. Music played in the background but it didn’t interest Cath, she would much rather be listening to the mixtape that Levi made her at the beginning of the summer. She reminisced. 

Levi had been acting off the first day they met up after the summer started, then nearing the end of the date, he handed her a cassette tape. “So you can experience the world from the comfort of your desk. You spend so much time in Watford, I thought’d that you would want to try another place. Maybe it could inspire you to give Baz and Simon a vacation?” He was nervous. Levi was never nervous, so Cath knew that it was a big deal.  
“It’s perfect.” She reached up and kissed him. He relaxed into her. Cath hadn’t told Levi that she had nothing to play it on though, she didn’t want to make him feel bad. So instead, she woke up early every morning of the first two weeks of summer vacation to go to the neighborhood garage sales. Eventually she found an old barely-together tape player and bought it for $7. That’s how temperamental it was. But the cassette that Levi had made for her was so beautiful. It was multiple songs from every country and was the best music that Cath had ever heard. She told Levi that her tape player was crappy but neglected to mention that it was because she didn’t have one and only spent $7 on one from a garage sale. Currently though, it was safely tucked into one of her boxes in the trunk of her dad’s car. 

Her dad and Wren were doing much better now, Wren had decided to only sign up for one class and be a part time student so that she could get a job and have some responsibility. She spent the summer working at IHOP to try to earn enough money to get a car. So far, she was half way to the one she wanted, it was second hand of course, but Wren had flirted with the guy that was trying to sell it and so he said he would keep it for her. She and Cath had both made a pact to make sure that at least one of them was staying with their dad at the weekend, just to keep an eye on him. What they would actually say to their dad was that they ‘couldn’t study with all the noise’ or ‘felt the pressure of drinking’ and so had to come home for the weekend. 

Levi and Cath had met up a few times during the summer and talked every night. It was difficult to fit it around his ranch schedule and her demanding writing schedule, but they did it.

BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.

Cath was pulled out of her daydreaming by a phone buzzing. Wren reached for her’s. “Oh. It’s yours, Cath.” Cath picked up her phone from the seat next to her, breaking up her game. It was Levi.  
“Think of the Devil.” Cath smiled.  
“Cather. Nice to know you’re thinking of me.”  
“What’s up?”  
“Reagan dropped out.”  
“Of what?” She was confused.  
“Of university.”  
“What?” Cath breathed down the phone.  
“Yep, I saw her a minute ago and she seemed really upset about something. I asked her what was up and she told me.”  
“Oh no, is she okay?”  
“I think so, she’s moving back home-“ He paused. “to live with her parents.”  
“Oh God, something bad must have happened to force her to do that. She hates her parents.  
“Yeah.”  
“We’re only-“ Cath turned to her father. “How far are we away now?”  
Her dad replied with “Ten minutes.”  
“We’re only ten minutes away, keep Reagan there. I want to talk to her.”  
“Okay. I’ll see you in ten.”  
“Love you.”  
“Love you too.” Levi said, Cath hung up.

Sure enough, they got there in ten minutes. Cath was opening the door before the car had even stopped. “Hey! Cath. Where do you think you’re going?” Her dad said.  
“There’s an emergency with Reagan. I have to go.” She ran out of the car, and right into Levi. “Where’s Reagan?”  
“No hello? No how've you been doing? Or even a kiss?”  
“Hey, hi, hello. Where’s Reagan?” Cath was flustered and out of breath.  
“Hello Cather. Reagan is calming down in your room. I told her to wait there and I locked her in because Reagan will do anything to not have to talk about it if she’s upset.”  
“Thanks.” She smiled and for a moment forgot all about Reagan. Levi leant down, because there was still about half a foot height difference, and let his lips greet Cath’s lips. “Mmm…” Cath murmured, her eyes closed. “Hello.” Levi withdrew.  
“Reagan now, more of this later.”  
“Sure.” Cath agreed. She hurriedly followed the route to Pound Hall, room 913.  
“What about your bags?” Her dad yelled her way.  
“Help Wren first, then I’ll come back for them.” She shouted back at him.

A few minutes later, Cath and Levi were in the elevator going up to room 913. And when the doors opened, Cath ran to the room. Levi seemed relaxed. A bit too relaxed. Cath unlocked the door and flung it open. “SURPRISE!!!” A group of people yelled. She looked around the room and saw Reagan, Levi, Nick, Courtney and Wren and her dad breathing heavily behind her. The room was decorated with banners saying ‘happy birthday’ on them and Reagan’s bed had a tray with a gigantic cake on it. The cake was decorated with an open book, a computer and a miniature Cath, all made of frosting. She was ecstatic. Wren had come to the conclusion that they were all going to go to school a week early just so that she could go to a frat party for their birthday. “And I’ll only drink diet soda.” She promised their dad. Cath never thought he would agree to it, but lo and behold he did- this was probably why.

Reagan flicked on her stereo and it started blasting out the mixtape that Levi made for Cath. He must have made another copy for her party. There was a pile of presents sitting on Cath’s bed, most were wrapped in silver paper with white bows and white ribbon which reminded her of Christmas- specifically the Christmas she found out that Santa wasn’t real. Her dad had forgotten to wrap the presents from him and the ones from Santa in a different paper, so all of the twins presents were silver with white bows and white ribbon. Cath had cried for the rest of the day, but Wren had turned to their dad and said “I already knew.” She always knew everything before Cath- including this.   
They danced and chatted before Cath couldn’t hold out any longer. She ran to her bed and picked up one of the non-silver presents. Reagan turned the music down and a few people sat holding their drinks in their hand. It turns out that she had picked up Nick’s present first. Cath didn’t want to seem impolite by putting it back down and so opened it. 

Her and Nick had patched up their relationship over the summer after he apologized and explained how stressed he had been about writing his final piece. Cath accepted this as she too was stressed about it. She didn’t entirely agree with what he did, but realized that she was more of an editor than a co-writer. 

As Cath opened his gift, she saw too things and wasn’t sure which surprised her more. The first was Nick’s scarf, the one that Cath had always been jealous of, the one that Cath had only told Levi that she was jealous of. Nick had probably gone to Levi to ask what Cath would have liked. Levi may have jokingly said Nick’s scarf. Cath looked up from the scarf and saw that Nick didn’t have his scarf on today, how did she miss it? The other thing that was Nick had wrapped was a book. Cath picked it up and examined it. “I worked on it all summer. Adding to what we already had.” Nick said. Cath noticed that the author was ‘Nicholas Manter’ but also ‘Cather Avery’. It was a real, published book. And it had her name on the front. Cath opened it to the dedication page to see if it was dedicated to someone she knew. It was. It read ‘Cath, I’m really sorry I fucked up. I’m sorry I used chapter seven as my final piece, but it’s as much yours as it is mine.’ Cath flicked to chapter seven. There was a cheque for her for $350. “That’s half of what I’ve made so far. I’m happy to give you future halves if you’d like.” Cath smiled.  
“No, it’s okay. I only wrote half a chapter.” She riffled through the book. “You’ve written twenty-three and a half. Thank you, Nick.” He nodded. She put the scarf and book on her desk and picked up another not-silver present. Reagan bought her a copy of the first seven Simon Snow films- number eight doesn't come out for another nine months. Courtney bought her a ‘cute purse’, Cath knew she’s never use it but wanted to be nice. “It’s great! Now I have some where to put all my travel makeup” that I don’t own she thought. Courtney seemed happy with that though. Wren bought her some new Wren-style clothes.  
“Now you’ve got a hot boyfriend, you need to shake up your wardrobe a bit.” She also bought Cath a charm bracelet, then lifted her wrist to show off her matching one. She was given a lot of presents from her dad, some of which included: a box of energy bars, a better computer “Oh my God, this is so unexpected and so expensive, why did you spend your money on this, I still love it but oh my God dad.” and a piece of paper. It was her oddest present and was sitting in the middle of a small-ish box that she had unwrapped. It read ‘Cath, I know how much you’ve wanted your own blog but hate paying monthly fees. So I bought you a website, you’ll have it for a year and then could keep it going or stop it and you have advertisements on google and a few other websites for your blog. Make me proud. Dad x’ Cath got really excited and was thinking about her new blog and whether it should be a Cath-blog or a Magicath-blog. She forgot that she was at her party. When she realized that she had no other presents she became confused. Levi hadn't gotten her anything. She didn't want to say it in case he felt embarrassed but she couldn’t shake the disappointment. Instead she said thank you to everyone and asked “What about Wren?”  
“I’m celebrating tonight, at the Alpha Kappa house. I have my presents waiting in my room for later.” Wren replied confidently.  
“Oh.” Cath picked up the knife that was sitting on Reagan’s bed and cut into her cake. She supplied everyone with cake and Reagan turned the music back up. Levi moved to stand behind Cath.   
“Heya, Cather.”  
“Hi.”  
“Don’t seem too disappointed, it’s your birthday.” He hugged her and whispered in her ear. “I left your present in my house, but it’s well worth the wait. You’ll see.” He kissed her ear and then moved away, grabbing a bit of cake and going to talk to Nick.


	2. hot whiskey eyes - wren

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wren goes to the frat party and has an odd experience to say the least.

After Cath’s surprise party, their dad offered to bring the boxes up to Cath’s room and Wren left with Courtney. They had ended up as roommates again, but Wren wasn't too upset, she would be working most of the time anyway. They made their way back to their dorm. Wren heaved a box off her bed and pulled out the contents of another. She quickly made the bed with her usual plum colored sheets, and then moved to start filling the wardrobe. Wren had a system with her clothes. She would line them up left to right, slut to prude, just so she knew without thinking what outfit would be appropriate for various events. Some might say it was organized from Wren-ness to Cath-ness. She fixed her side of the room and then looked at her phone for the time. It was four pm. She had exactly five hours until the frat party at the Alpha Kappa house. Plenty of time. 

Wren swiftly grabbed a mug from her shelf, lining the bottom with cocoa powder and grabbed her laptop and a blanket and then walked to the dining hall. No one was there. She set her laptop and blanket in the darkest corner of the hall and then wandered into the kitchen. Joyce was in there. “Hi, Joyce.” Joyce was a middle aged lunch (and breakfast and dinner) lady with a soft spot for those in need. She wore her blonde hair twisted in a clip at the base of her head, and had kind eyes. Wren enjoyed her company from time to time, but what she most enjoyed was how Joyce knew when to leave her alone or to talk to her.  
“Hello Wren. Back at school already?” She closed her laptop and turned to Wren.  
“Yeah, it’s mine and Cath’s birthday today, so we came back early.”  
“Speaking of which. The girls and I made you some cupcakes.” Joyce sauntered off. She came back with a tray of thirteen red velvet cupcakes. “A bakers dozen.” She smiled.  
“Thank you.”  
“Did you want some cocoa?” Wren often came to the dining hall when nobody was about, it’s how she knew Joyce so well.  
“Yes please.”  
“I’ll trade ya.” She handed Wren the tray of cupcakes for Wren’s mug. And a few minutes later, she was back with a mug of hot cocoa.  
“Thank you.”  
“Come back if you need another, I’m just organizing the term’s meals.”  
“Sure. Is it okay if I sit in the dining room?” Wren pointed behind her.  
“Of course, honey.”  
“Thank you. I might be back for another.” She pointed to the mug, and then she left with the cocoa and tray of cupcakes. She sat down at the table she had picked and set her cakes and cocoa on it. She opened up Netflix and wrapped herself up in her blanket. Wren scrolled through Netflix for ages before she settled upon Jessica Jones. As soon as she clicked on the show though, a girl burst through the dining hall doors.  
“Mom?” The girl called. She squinted at Wren and Wren realized that the only light near her was off her laptop screen. “Have you seen my mom?”  
“Depends on who your mom is.”  
“Her name is Joyce, Joyce Kennedy.”  
“She’s in the kitchen.” Wren lifted her arm, showing the girl the door to the kitchen.  
“Thanks.” She responded and then rushed at the kitchen door. Wren took a sip of the cocoa and a bite of a cake and then pressed play. The girl was in the kitchen for around an hour, and Wren was more interested in the girl than the show (even though she would later discover it to be the best fucking show ever). When she exited the kitchen, she turned to Wren. “Hey.” Wren pressed pause.  
“Hi.”  
“Thanks for pointing out my mom. I get lost a lot so it’s a great help.”  
“Your mom is like the best woman I’ve ever met. She’s so nice, your so lucky to have such a great mom.”  
“I’m sure your mom is pretty cool too.”  
“I wouldn't bet money on it.” Wren muttered under her breath.  
“Anyway I’ve gotta go, my dad’s in the parking lot.”  
“See ya.”  
“Bye.” Wren made note of the fact the girl wasn’t at UNL, maybe she was a year off starting or was at a different university. It’s too bad, that girl was pretty cute. They could have been friends. If they were, Wren would have definitely borrowed that dress. She had long blonde hair in a french braid down her back. It reached her hips and swayed as she moved. The girl wore a white lace summer dress and had a brown plaited belt. Wren hoped she saw her again. 

She watched Jessica Jones until eight and then went back to her dorm with her laptop, blanket and ten cupcakes. What? It was her birthday! When Wren walked into the room she saw Courtney on the phone and decided to turn out the lights. She stumbled in the dark to the window and clicked her fairy lights on. They hung around the window and across the top of both of their beds. The room lit up like it was Christmas. Courtney gave her a smile and then went back to talking on the phone. Wren crossed the room and pulled out the outfit that she had put together for the party. It was a small white top that said ‘Dior not war’ on it, short black shorts and a burgundy cardigan. She was going for casual. She did her makeup with sleek black eyeliner and burgundy eye shadow and a dark matt lip just as someone knocked on the door. She opened it and it was Cath. “Hi.” Cath breathed.  
“Hi.”  
“You look awesome.”  
“Thank you. And you look… ready for bed?” Cath was wearing her pajamas, the ones with the ice-creams on them and her really comfy slipper socks.  
“Yeah, Levi and I are going to skip the party. I just came to let you know. We’re going back to his place and he’s going to give me his present and I might stay over. Sorry.”  
“Might? You look like you are going to stay over.”  
“Yeah… Oh, just let me…” Cath grabbed a tin of hairspray that was sitting on Wren’s desk. She covered Wren’s eyes and then fluffed her hair, spraying it lightly.  
“It always amazes me how you have the confidence to do that to me but not to yourself. You know you’re like a pro at fluffing my hair.”  
“It only suits you because you have short hair.”  
“Maybe you should change it up a little. Shave the side. Or dye it. Or you could get a bob!”  
“I’ll think about it.” Cath was not planning on thinking about it.  
“I felt so liberated when I got mine cut.”  
“I’m sure. Have fun at the party. And don’t drink!”  
“Yes ma’am.” Wren saluted Cath as she walked out the door. Wren grabbed her phone and followed her.  
“Where are you going?”  
“The party. It’s eight fifty.”  
“Oh, right.”

As soon as Wren got to the frat house, she was ambushed by a guy handing her a beer. “No thanks.”  
“What are you driving or something?” He seemed personally offended.  
“Or something…”  
“Okay,” He strolled off, sipping at the beer. At least she knew it wasn't drugged. Wren took a seat on the couch next to the stereo which was pumping out music. Within the next hour, Wren was approached by several guys including the guy who had ambushed her before. Another guy walked over to her.  
“Hey, so why aren’t you drinking?”  
“My name is Wren and I’m an alcoholic.” She said as though she was at a God-awful AA meeting.  
“Hi Wren.” He paused, but before he could say something, Wren spoke.  
“So, why are you not drinking?”  
“My name is Michael and I’m an alcoholic.” He copied.  
“Hi Michael.”  
“So a little birdy told me that it’s your birthday today. If you will follow me into the kitchen.” He walked, not checking behind him. Wren wouldn’t have gotten up, but her curiosity outweighed her comfort. She threw caution to the wind. As she stepped into the large kitchen, she saw a couple making out. At a second glance, she noticed that it was Courtney and her boyfriend. They left.  
“So, what are we doing here?”  
“It’s your birthday.” He stated as if it was obvious.  
“Yeah… so?”  
“So, we’re going to make a cake. Duh.”  
“Obviously…” She mumbled. “What type of cake are we going for?”  
“Preferably a good one.” He smirked.  
“What flavor?”  
“Strawberry and Mint cake with Tiramisu Cream.”  
“Wow. That sounds pretty exotic.”  
“Yeah, well, my parents used to own a cake-tering business. That’s catering but only cake. It was like a bakery but on the move. It was really cool.”  
“What happened?”  
“The clients demanded more and then my dad was in a car accident, he’s okay, he just refuses to drive anywhere. My mom quit to help him get better and then got a new job.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“Don’t be. I had a great childhood. And I know how to make Strawberry and Mint cake with Tiramisu Cream.”  
“It’s a win-win then. I hope you have enough stuff to make it.”  
“Yeah, I checked earlier.”  
“Were you actually planning on making me a cake before we met?”  
“I was going to make two small ones, one for the house and the other for you and your sister, I know Levi, and I was going to drop it off at your dorm. But you’re here, so we can make it together.”  
“Okay. What can I do?”  
“Put this on.” He chucked Wren an apron. She tied it around her waist.  
“Now what?”  
“You’re very impatient.”  
“I know. Now what?” She repeated.  
“Now I get the ingredients.” Michael moved to the fridge, the pantry and the cupboard and laid all of the items out on the countertop. There was a lot of food.  
“Hey, are you sure we’re gonna need this much?”  
“I assure you, I have the exact measurements for everything. I’ve done this once or twice y’know.”  
“Okay okay, chill out. I'm just trying to help.” Wren waved her arm in surrender.  
“I have an idea. Can you preheat the oven for me?”  
“Yeah. What temperature?”  
“Three-twenty-five.”  
“Will do.” 

Eventually, a cake was made and creamed and was on the cooling rack, you guessed it, cooling. Wren looked up at Michael as he reached around her waist. “What’re you thinking about?” He untied her apron and stepped back, folding it and placing it on the counter behind him.  
“How weird this is.”  
“Really? Cause I always spend frat parties sober and baking cakes with a random girl I just met.” He smiled and his eyes twinkled. For a moment, Wren had forgotten about the party going on around them. It had felt like he had invited her round solely for baking purposes. “Here, you’ve got some cream on your face.” Michael moved forward and grazed his thumb across Wren’s cheek, removing the cream. She inhaled quickly at his touch.  
“Thanks.” She exhaled. “What color are your eyes?” They were standing really close. The light flickered overhead.  
“Excuse me?” He scoffed.  
“I said, what color are your eyes?”  
“Light brown, I think.”  
“You think? How do you not know?” Wren asked, perplexed. Rhythmic beating put Michael off.  
“I just- very rarely look at my eyes.”  
“Hang on a second.” Wren stepped forward again, this time their bodies met and she looked directly into his eyes. His arms wrapped around her. “They look more of a whiskey color to me.”  
“Huh.”  
“Yeah, they’re very pretty.”  
“Thank you. So are you.”  
“I have to go.” Wren stumbled backwards. She was becoming more and more like Cath every day. She grabbed the cake and her bag and then ran off back to her dorm room.


	3. picket fence - levi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi has a plan for Cath's birthday, first to ditch the frat party, next to grab a pillow and later he shall present his Queen with the finest of gifts.

Eventually, after staying to help clean up Cath’s dorm room and unpacking all of her stuff, Levi convinced Cath to put on her cotton pajamas and make a list of all of her favorite foods. It included: blueberry pancakes with butter; orange juice without the pulp; and grilled cheese. “I need to do some stuff. It’ll take ten minutes, tops. Tell Wren that we’re not going to the frat party and then grab your fluffiest pillow. I’ll be back in ten.” Levi bent down to kiss Cath.   
“Okay I will, see you in a bit then.” Cath was confused but followed his instructions. Levi left the building and drove off campus. There was a small twenty-four hour Walmart next to the campus. Levi got out of his truck and went in. He grabbed a basket and stepped quickly through the aisles which were actually shorter than he was. He picked up a toothbrush, a lilac towel and a small alarm clock. He walked to the food area.   
“Hello, how may I assist you this fine evening?” A perky, bouncing woman asked. Her name tag read ‘Caroline’.  
“Well Caroline, I am looking for the blueberry pancakes for my girlfriend and she is mighty hungry so we’ll need a few.” Levi smiled his smile and charmed the bouncing saleswoman.  
“Right this way, sweetie.” The woman took Levi down aisle nineteen. He saw an array of cakes and muffins and aha, pancakes. “So we’ve got plain, chocolate-chip, whole wheat, corn cakes, blue corn cakes, oat, lemon strawberry, berry topped, cocoa-banana, bacon-apple, buttermilk, rhubarb, annnnddd blueberry. Here we are.”  
“That’s a lot of pancakes!”  
“If that’s all?”  
“Yeah, thanks. Have a good evening.”  
“You too dear.” Levi pondered on how many pancakes he would need and then settled on eight. He picked up the pack and placed it in the basket. The orange juice was on sale so Levi picked up a few cartons, paid and then drove back to Pound Hall. Cath was waiting for him.  
“If I’m spending the night, I’m bringing my laptop for the morning.”  
“Fine. Come on. Let me take that for you.” Levi grabbed her pillow because he knew that the one thing Cath would never let him touch was her brand new computer. “Did you talk to Wren?”  
“Yes, and she said that she didn’t mind and to have fun.”  
“Great, get in.” He opened his truck door for her. Cath stepped up into it, cradling her laptop to her chest. When Levi turned the ignition, Bon Jovi started up - it was ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’. Cath immediately found it hilarious, you would think a good, strong boy like Levi would be into country music, the music of his people, but alas no. Once Cath was finished laughing, she yawned. She hadn’t realized how tired she had become. “Don’t worry, we’re almost there.” Levi whispered comfortably.   
“I’ll try to stay awake for the remainder of the journey.” Cath pressed her head to the passenger window. She thought about what Wren had said, about changing her hair. She didn't want to think about it but maybe it would be nice to spruce it up.   
“This is it.” Levi stopped the car, got out, helped Cath out and then proceeded to grab his shopping bags and Cath’s pillow.   
“This is where you live?”  
“Yes, why?”  
“I just thought it would be a little more… country. That’s all.”  
“I’m shocked an’ downright offended. Is that all ya know ‘bout me?” Levi put on a really fake southern accent and mocked offense.  
“Pretty much. This place is a little preppy for my taste. I may have to dump you and go out with a real cowboy.”  
“Preppy?”  
“Is that all you got from what I said?”  
“A cowboy might be a better meat cook, although he might form an emotional attachment to the meal and refuse to eat. I promise you that I have not emotionally bonded with the pancakes we’re having. Cross my heart.” Levi crossed his chest with his hand.   
“You bought me pancakes?” Cath’s face lit up with joy and she grabbed at the carrier bag Levi held.   
“Let’s at least go in first.”  
“Okay,” The pair walked through the front door.   
“I live here with four other guys, it’s how we can afford the place. That and one of the guys has a rich dad who visits sometimes and takes pity on us, that and I knew the guy who had this room before me.”  
“That always helps.”  
“I’ll show you where you can put your stuff, then we feast.” Levi lead Cath to his bedroom which was on the fourth floor. They squeezed one after the other up the rickety ladder. The room itself had dark oak flooring, brown paint on the walls, a desk and bookshelf on the far wall, shelves built into the walls bearing CDs and DVDs and a queen sized bed in the corner. There was also a small television sitting on a table pointing towards the bed.  
“You’ve been holding out on me.”  
“What? Oh the bed. It’s huge and came with the place. I would have gone for something a little smaller myself, perhaps a double but then again there’s no use having a bed that size with a queen to share it with.”  
“Where’s your closet?”  
“Was that totally lost on you?”  
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be your queen. Now where’s your closet?” Cath poked him.  
“The mystery door to your left.” It was painted brown, so Cath didn’t notice it at first.  
“Ahhh… may I? Unless of course you hid all of your actual stuff in there and if I open the closet door all of your stuff will fall out.”  
“Nope, all of my school stuff is in a communal room because I can’t study in silence and I’m pretty sure some of the people to live in this room were crazy about sex or crazy about music, and I hope it’s the latter, because it’s sound-proofed. And I am rambling, so you can leave your stuff on the bed and we’ll go get something to eat.”  
“Sure, I’ll just check this out when we’re done.” Cath strategically placed her laptop in a position on the bed that it wasn’t too close to the edge that it may fall off, but it also wasn't to close to the middle that it may be sat on. Levi threw her pillow on his bed. 

One of the first things that she had told him when they started dating was how she couldn’t really sleep if she didn’t have her own pillow. Because if it didn’t smell like her (and home) and it wasn’t lumpy in the right places Cath would become an insomniac. 

Soon enough, Levi had created a nice spread of butter on heated blueberry pancakes, orange juice without the pulp and a grilled cheese. He wasn’t hungry but it seemed like Cath was because she did that thing where she would eat in really tiny bites and huge breaks for conversation in the middle. Levi ended up telling her to just eat, and once she got going she had the whole thing demolished in fifteen minutes. For a girl her size she sure could eat quickly. Levi cleaned up and then they went back upstairs. It took a while for all of the enigmatic hallways and staircases. Levi bounced onto the bed and laid back against the headboard. Cath moved her laptop to the desk and then laid back next to him. She shifted so that her head was on his chest. “Is this year going to be different?” Cath breathed into Levi’s shirt. He moved his head’s position to look at her.  
“Of course it is, it’s a new year. That’s part of the fun.”  
“I mean with classes and teachers and relationships and- I don’t want any of it to be different, Levi.”  
“Are you sure you don’t want it all to be different? Sometimes things change for the good.”  
“But sometimes they change for the bad.”  
“Take your classes for example, you are taking a different class this year- Literature. It should be good, you should come back from each class refreshed and ready to write a novel. But, reality doesn’t work like that, you have to take the bad so that it makes the good worth it. It’s ying and yang.” Levi said. Cath contemplated that for a moment.  
“So what you’re telling me is that bad things are going to happen?”  
“Yes.”  
“And I’m just going to have to deal with that?”  
“Yes.”  
“Because if I don’t deal with that, then life won’t be worth living?”  
“Exactly.”  
“Ugh,” Cath threw her arms down on the bed. “I hate it when you’re right.”  
“Me too. But it’s present time.”  
“I thought this evening was my present.”  
“It is half of your present. There’s two other things.” Levi picked up Cath’s head and slid out from under her on the bed.   
“Okay…” He walked calmly to the other side of his room, to one of his built in shelves. Carefully, he took out a box which had Levi’s name on it. Then, he removed a card and a smaller, wrapped box from the cardboard box.   
“Here,” He passed Cath the card first. She ripped it open and found a Simon Snow card.  
“Wow, this must have taken ages to find because Wren wanted to get me one this year and she spent over a month looking for it, no luck. This is great. Really.”  
“Cool, but that’s not actually one of the presents, open it.” She opened the card and screamed. “Hey calm down.”  
“Levi! You got me a sit down talk with the real life author of the Simon Snow series, Gemma T. Leslie!”  
“Keep reading…”  
“For half an hour!”  
“Go on…”  
“With book signing! I love you Levi Stewart.”  
“I’m guessing you won’t want your other present then, seeing as you’re too excited about this one.”  
“No way, I want the heck out of that one.”  
“Okay, here.” Levi handed Cath the wrapped box. She untied the ribbon, then peeled off the tape, and tore at the paper. Inside was a jewelry box.  
“There’s so many boxes, I’m doing some recycling later.” Cath gently opened it and gasped. It was a key. “Is this for here?” She whispered.  
“Yes and it’s not a secret. I cleared it with my roommates first, I didn’t want them getting any surprises, or you for that matter.”   
“It’s perfect.”  
“Well, thank you. I had thought that my gift giving ability had become rather rusty but now I see that is not the case. I’m glad you like it. I thought that it would give you a place closer to the coffee shop to study or a kitchen you could actually make stuff in, no more living off those energy bars. And if you don’t want to make anything but you feel like eating, great! Cause I live here and I would be more than happy to feed you.”  
“Thank you.”   
“You’re welcome.” They settled back in bed and Levi set the alarm for eight as instructed and turned the tv on. Simon Snow and the Five Blades was playing so Cath stole the remote. The light was off and they were both under the covers as soon as the film had started.   
After a while, Cath turned to Levi. “So, where are your roommates this evening?”  
“Two of them went to that frat party that your sister went to, and the third isn’t coming back until the day before term starts.”  
“Did you make them go to the party?”  
“No, but I did make it worth their while.”  
“Levi, you didn’t have to kick your roommates out, I want to get to know them.”  
“You will, but not tonight.” He kissed her forehead. “Tonight is our night, and you will meet them soon. If it doesn’t happen in the next two weeks I’ll organize something.” He paused for a minute or two. “Are you happy Cather?”  
“Ecstatic.” She said sarcastically.  
“I mean really happy.” Levi said quietly. Cath paused.  
“Yeah. I guess I am.”


End file.
